Office for Equal Opportunity
North Carolina
State University

Location & Hours
1 Holladay Hall
8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Monday - Friday

Mailing Address
Campus Box 7530
Raleigh, NC
27695-7530

Phone Numbers
Main: 919-515-3148
Fax: 919-513-1428
TTY: 919-515-9617

Equal_Op - May, 2001, Volume 1, #4

Building Bridges at NC State University

The Office for Equal Opportunity in conjunction with the Office for Diversity and African American Affairs, Human Resources, and Student Affairs has sponsored several workshops over the past two months. In March, approximately 100 NC State faculty, staff, and students attended Building Bridges: A Prejudice Reduction Workshop. Participants spent five hours going through a variety of interactive exercises designed to help participants celebrate their similarities and differences, identify misinformation they have learned about other groups, heal internalized oppression, claim pride in their own identities, learn about the personal impact of discrimination, and learn tools for changing bigoted comments and actions. The workshops were well received by those in attendance.

Building Bridges was a first step in introducing a model designed by the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) to the NC State community. The second step took place in April when approximately 50 NC State faculty, staff, and students were trained to facilitate the NCBI model and serve as members of a leadership team that will address issues of diversity on our campus.

This effort is to serve as an additional tool for creating a diverse and welcoming campus climate. It is a continuation of an ongoing effort to educate members of our campus community about the impact of discrimination and encourage the building of positive relationships throughout our community.

NCBI is an international, non-profit leadership development organization that assists a broad range of organizations in creating more inclusive environments. Since its founding in 1984, NCBI has worked with federal, state and local governments, corporations, and a variety of other organizations, including universities.

You can learn more at the NCBI website. If you would like to be a participant in future workshops, please contact Beverly Jones Williams at 919-513-3836 or by email.

Interesting Websites

• For a visual representation of the Braille alphabet, see www.nbp.org.

• Have you heard all the talk lately about the numbers coming back from the most recent U.S. Census!? Check out the latest at their web site: www.census.gov.

Mediation: Solutions at Work!

Perhaps you have heard of a wonderful service that is available to all employees at NC State. Since 1999, we have had a team of sixteen persons who are certified in mediating employee conflicts. This group consists of several faculty members, a number of persons from Human Resources and other NC State departments, and all of the OEO staff. Each mediator has participated in a 40-hour training on the different skills and processes for facilitating conflict resolution.

What is mediation? It is an informal process of conflict resolution. It works by bringing parties together in a non-confrontational manner to address their issues and come to an agreement. The mediator is a neutral third person who helps the parties sort out the issues, generates possible solutions to the problems, ensures that the needs of the parties are addressed, and helps them come up with a workable solution. The mediator neither decides who is right and who is wrong, nor makes a decision about how the problem should be resolved. Instead, that person helps the parties come to these decisions through facilitating their discussion and addressing the conflict constructively. Mediation is intended to be an alternative to the formal grievance procedure, as well as an avenue to address conflicts before they become a grievance.

We are prepared to assist you should you be considering mediation as an option. SPA employees should contact someone in Employee Relations (Human Resources) at 919-515-4300. EPA employees, including faculty, may contact either the Chair of the Faculty Senate, or someone in the Office for Equal Opportunity at 919-515-3148.

Programming Notes

Diversity Months

Get busy in May. This month is a time to celebrate Asian/Pacific American Heritage as well as Older Americans. The term “Asian/Pacific American” encompasses many ethnic groups with diverse histories, languages, and cultures. This month celebrates the collective achievements of these heterogeneous communities. Older Americans month is a time to celebrate and reflect on the unique contributions of older Americans in our society.

June is Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. Pride Days are celebrated in communities throughout the U.S. Pride is a time for individuals who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender (GLBT) to come together to celebrate. It is a time when people find they are not alone and can take pride in their identity and their community's history.

"Girls on Track" to be held June 25-July 6, 2001

NCSU’s third year summer math camp for middle school girls, directed by Professor Sarah Berenson and the Center for Research in Mathematics and Science Education, will begin on June 25th with emphasis on the importance of math skills for young women. Funded by NSF and IBM, in collaboration with Professor Mladen Vouk of Computer Science and Professor Tracy L. Robinson of Counselor Education, this camp aims to keep talented girls in Wake County public schools on the fast math track through middle school, high school, and into college, while boosting their interest in math related careers. Exciting activities include Sports Algebra, a Raleigh Landfill trip, and an I-40 commuter survey for constructing an HOV lane. For more information, visit the Girls on Track website, or call the center at 919-515-2013 for a brochure and application.

Take Our Daughters To Work Day

On Thursday, April 26, NC State University hosted Take Our Daughters to Work Day. This was the second year that NC State sponsored campus-wide activities. The day began with a Kick-Off Celebration at the Bell Tower, hosted by Chancellor Fox. Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall provided a keynote address, highlighting the importance of this day. From there, girls participated in a wide variety of activities on campus, including a Hands On Engineering program, an Occupational Health and Safety program, and a seminar entitled “Careers in Information Technology: Not Just for Geeks Any More.”

The goal of NC State’s event was to organize a program that will provide the benefits of boosting girls' self-confidence and self-esteem, exposure to different opportunities in the business world, and exposure to non-traditional careers. Photos and other information regarding the 2001 TODTWD event are available at the TODTWD website.

Staff Spotlight: Leslie Dare

This issue of Equal_Op provides an opportunity both to highlight the work of an employee and say good-bye as she leaves for another position on campus. Leslie Dare joined the Office for Equal Opportunity in September, 1993 to fill the newly-created position of Sexual Harassment Prevention Officer. Leslie’s work focused on prevention activities specifically related to sexual harassment at NC State, which included training programs, policies, and publicity. She was also responsible for complaint resolution activities, which involved helping individuals, administrators, and other university offices in their efforts to resolve complaints of sexual harassment.

After five years of focusing entirely on sexual harassment, Leslie’s duties expanded significantly in 1998 when the university made a deliberate effort to address other forms of discrimination and harassment in addition to sexual harassment. Her work now included the other “protected classes” –- race, color, religion, creed, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, and sexual orientation. This expanded focus required a number of changes in policies and educational programs, as well as resolution activities.

During her time with the Office for Equal Opportunity, Leslie achieved a number of significant accomplishments. Her most recent work of note is the creation of the Equal Opportunity Institute. This year long educational program just completed its second year and has received a great deal of praise from participants. Leslie also spearheaded NC State’s first and second Take Our Daughters to Work Day programs, and led the efforts to establish NC State’s NCBI Campus Affiliate.

In addition to the recent programmatic work, Leslie accomplished quite a bit with her primary harassment prevention and resolution duties as well. During her tenure with OEO, Leslie conducted well over 400 educational and training programs, and processed a nearly equal number of harassment complaints. She authored four significant Administrative Regulations, and developed a large portion of OEO’s web presence. Her work with the Harassment Resolution Officer network is also noteworthy. While this multiple point-of-entry system was not new to NC State, Leslie developed this system into a very successful approach for complaint resolution, which has been used as a model at other institutions.

Leslie’s work with OEO ended on April 15, when she assumed new duties as the Distance Education Coordinator for Student Affairs. In her new position, Leslie will be helping the various departments and units in the Division of Student Affairs find ways to deliver student services to distance learners.

A Review of EPA and SPA Employee Populations... and more

Information regarding the populations of EPA and SPA employees is available for review online at -- where else? -- the Office for Equal Opportunity website! Paper copies are also available by contacting OEO at 919-515-3148.

The employee statistics provided here reflect what is reported annually in the University Equal Employment Opportunity Plan to the Office of State Personnel (OSP) and tracked in the Personnel Data File (PDF) reported to the University of North Carolina administration.

The full narrative of the SPA EEO Plan is available as well. The narrative portion of "The Plan," as we commonly call it, describes our equal opportunity programs, how and when we review these, and outlines what positive steps -- affirmative action -- we will take to address all obstacles to equal opportunity. Please set aside some time to peruse the narrative and the numbers. Use that time to reflect upon how important the work of equal opportunity is in providing access to all persons to the jobs and opportunities we have here at NC State. The work of equal opportunity is not done just by those of us listed in the staff directory under "Office for Equal Opportunity," but by numerous people throughout the University. In fact, each person at the University plays an integral role in providing and protecting this value, which we embrace so dearly in our country, called "equal opportunity."

Nearly 1 in 5 Americans Has Some Level of Disability

Nearly 1 in 5 persons -- 53 million people -- said they had some level of disability in 1997, while 1 in 8 -- 33 million -- reported they had a severe disability, according to a report released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau.

These data should not be confused with results of Census 2000, which are being released over the next three years.

"Since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, the Census Bureau has collected data that make it possible to relate disability status to a range of other variables, including income, employment, health insurance coverage and the receipt of program benefits," said Census Bureau analyst Sharon Stern about the report, Americans With Disabilities: 1997.

The Census Bureau defines a person with a disability as someone that has difficulty in performing functional tasks or daily living activities or meets other criteria, such as a learning or developmental disability. People are considered to have a severe disability if they are completely unable to perform one or more of these tasks or activities, need personal assistance or have one of the severe conditions described in the report.

The report found that the presence of a severe disability brings with it an increased likelihood of receiving welfare benefits, having low levels of income and being more likely to live in poverty. Also, individuals with a severe disability are less likely to be covered by health insurance than those with no disability. Among people 25-to-64 years of age having a severe disability, only 48 percent had health coverage, compared with 80 percent for people with a non-severe disability and 82 percent of those with no disability.

Other Highlights:

• Among the population age 15 and over, 25 million had difficulty walking a quarter of a mile or climbing a flight of 10 stairs or they used an ambulatory aid, such as a wheelchair (2.2 million) or a cane, crutches or a walker (6.4 million).

• About 18 million individuals age 15 and over had difficulty lifting and carrying a 10-pound bag of groceries or grasping small objects.

• About 7.7 million people age 15 and over had difficulty seeing the words and letters in ordinary newspaper print (even with glasses).

• About 14.3 million people age 15 and over had a mental disability, including 1.9 million with Alzheimer's disease, senility or dementia; and 3.5 million with a learning disability.

• The poverty rate among the population 25-to-64 years old with no disability was 8 percent, compared with 10 percent for people with a non-severe disability and 28 percent for people with a severe disability.

• In 1997, 9.7 million people age 16 to 64 had a disability that prevented them from working and another 7.2 million were limited as to the kind or amount of work they could do.

These data were collected in late 1997 from approximately 32,000 households in the panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation that started in 1996. As in all surveys, these data are subject to sampling variability and other sources of error.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; Public Information Office; 301-457-3030.

Challenge Question

What does HRO stand for at NC State?

Answer: Harassment Resolution Officer. HROs were featured in our February, 2001 issue.

If you have questions or comments regarding this newsletter, please contact Beverly Jones Williams at 919-513-3836 or by email.